Classics Today 10/10, May 2014
The Phoenix Rising
Stile Antico’s eighth disc celebrates the pioneering Tudor Church Music edition, which made available for the first time in the modern era much of the most important English Renaissance sacred music. Alongside Byrd’s evergreen Mass for five voices, Stile Antico’s varied programme includes masterpieces by Tallis, Taverner, White, Gibbons and Morley, all taken from the TCM volumes. This recording was supported by the Carnegie UK Trust, under whose aegis this remarkable edition appeared, in honour of its centenary in 2013, and received accolades including the Diapason d’Or and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
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Recorded: November, 2012
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Format: Hybrid SACD
Catalogue Number: HMU807572
An ideal single-volume compendium of Tudor music… Stile Antico presents it with a glorious and compelling freshness.
International Record Review
Choc de Classica, September 2013
Fono Forum Empfehlung des Monats, October 2013
Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, IV/13
Diapason d’or, September 2013
International Record Review – Outstanding, September 2013
Tudor music thrills anew, thanks to the artistry and musicianship of this top British choir.
William Dart, New Zealand Herald (17 August, 2013)
Stile Antico’s shaping of the music is sublime, its knitting of the counterpoint mellifluous… Poised and polished though the performances are, there is always the sense that this is living music with a powerfully expressive sacred message.
GN, The Telegraph (22 August, 2013)
Stile Antico sings Tudor and Jacobean classics with exemplary tuning and discipline. The more elaborate and spacious the music, the warmer the interpretation…
Richard Morrison, The Times (20 July, 2013)
Exquisitely rendered by the Stile Antico consort…
Andy Gill, The Independent (26 July, 2013)
Viven Schweizer, New York Times (6 November, 2013)
An ideal single-volume compendium of Tudor music… whether the music is early or late Stile Antico presents it with a glorious and compelling freshness.
Marc Rochester, International Record Review (September 2013)
If you want to hear this music sung by the new generation of specialist advocates, this is the group that will not fail to give you the most polished ensemble sound and technique yet always projecting an expressive aspect that recognizes the human/emotional pertinence of the texts.
David Vernier, Classics Today (May 2014)
Stile Antico is on top of its game here… There’s a rare spaciousness about the conductorless vocal ensemble’s singing, aided by the acoustics of St Jude-on-the-Hill in Hampstead Garden Suburb and terrific recorded sound. But the effect arises chiefly from the mysterious power of Tudor polyphony to elongate clock time and Stile Antico’s corporate empathy for it… Switch off all mobile devices, shut out distractions and simply be with the experience...
Andrew Stewart, Sinfini Music (1 August, 2013)
Another winner from Stile Antico… the program as a whole, in sumptuous surround sound and sung with a rarified perfection, is extremely satisfying.
Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition (1 August, 2013)
There’s a forthright quality to the voices of Stile Antico, and especially its sopranos, that suits this English repertoire, balancing beauty with an intensity that reminds us that this is the music of protest and oppression as well as faith.
Alexandra Coghlan, Gramophone (September 2013)
Such is the assurance, unanimity, flow and architectural grasp of Stile Antico’s performances that one would never know they are not under the guiding hand of a conductor… The singing itself is well-nigh flawless and the sound this group makes is a constant source of pleasure.
John Quinn, MusicWeb International (September 2013)
Stile Antico honour the Carnegie UK Trust with their customary clean lines, pure tone and precise articulation. If all that sounds a bit efficient, I’m struggling to say only that it is music making at the highest level.
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer (11 August, 2013)
- Byrd: Ave verum corpus
- Tallis: Salvator mundi I
- Byrd: Kyrie (5-part Mass)
- Byrd: Gloria (5-part Mass)
- Morley: Nolo mortem peccatoris
- Gibbons: O clap your hands
- Byrd: Credo (5-part Mass)
- White: Portio Mea
- White: Christe qui lux es IV
- Gibbons: Almighty & everlasting
- Byrd: Sanctus (5-part Mass)
- Tallis: In ieiunio et fletu
- Byrd: Agnus Dei (5-part Mass)
- Taverner: O splendor gloriae